Lamont Lilly (born 1979) is an American writer, political activist, and community organizer based in Durham, North Carolina. He is also a former vice-presidential candidate with the Workers World Party in the 2016 presidential election.

Early life and education

Lamont Lilly was born in 1979 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States.^[1] He served in the United States Army Reserve, being honorably discharged in 2001.^[2] In 1998 Lilly moved to Durham, North Carolina and enrolled at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), studying criminal justice. He graduated in 2003. Lilly initially aspired to become a lawyer. During his sophomore year of college he worked at a store at Northgate Mall, and while there he allowed a friend to use his employee discount. He later confessed and was convicted of felony embezzlement. He subsequently struggled to maintain employment and for a time became homeless. He later credited these experiences with shaping his views of homelessness and the criminal justice system.^[3]

Shortly after graduating from NCCU, he pursued graduate studies in sociology, also at NCCU, but decided to forego traditional education and worked for several years as a grassroots non-profit program coordinator, focusing on Black youth leadership and academic development. His focus on Black youth and families continued as he became an activist and community organizer.^[2][1] In 2005 Lilly was hired by NCCU to serve the director of its African American Male Leadership Academy. He left the job in 2008.^[3]

Activism and journalism

In 2011 Lilly participated in the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City. That year he joined the Workers World Party (WWP). In 2015 he became a paid organizer for the party.^[3] He served as the party's U.S. Vice Presidential candidate in the 2016 presidential election.^[2] Lilly left the party in 2018, though he still identified as a socialist.^[3]

From 2013 to 2018 Lilly was a Durham political activist,^[4][5][6] a leading member of the Durham branch of the WWP, a member of WWP's National Committee, and an early member of Black Alliance for Peace.^[7]

In 2010, Lilly traveled to Colombia in South America as a human rights delegate with Witness for Peace, advocating for displaced Indigenous and Afro-Colombian people. In 2015, he went to Syria and Lebanon^[8] in a group led by Ramsey Clark and Cynthia McKinney. In Beirut, he spoke as a Black Lives Matter representative at the International Forum for Justice Palestine. In Damascus, he met with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.^[9]

Lilly has participated in several protests in the United States, including the 2015 Baltimore protests after the police murder of Freddie Gray,^[10] to the Days of Grace actions in Charleston, SC in the wake of the racist massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church;^[11][12] Lilly has been present and involved at numerous instances of civil unrest related to racial discrimination, recording his perspective as an activist-journalist in the Black Lives Matter movement.^[13][2]

Lilly participated in the protests in Ferguson after the 2014 police murder of Michael Brown Jr.^[14] and was present at the 2016 Standing Rock protests.^[2][15] Later, he led support rallies for the arrested activists who tore down the Confederate statue in Durham in 2017.^{[16][17][18][19]} Lilly has helped to lead demonstrations in Boston,^[20] Chicago, Cleveland,^[21] Los Angeles,^[22] Milwaukee,^[23][24] New York City,^[25] Oakland,^[26] Philadelphia,^[27] and San Diego.^[28]

Lilly has written as a guest columnist in The Durham News, The Herald-Sun, and Triangle Tribune.^[2] As of 2020 he is a regular contributor for Truthout.^[3]

He has also been a guest speaker and facilitated workshops at several colleges and universities including the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford,^[29][30] Marshall University,^[31] and Malcolm X College.^[32]

Community

Lilly was awarded the 2015 Local Hero Citizen's Award^[33] by Indy Week for "pushing for workers' rights and police reform" and the 2017 Spectacular Magazine Man of the Year for "human rights and social justice".^[34] The Courier Newsroom named Lilly as one of their "Heroes of 2020" for his continued activism in the Movement for Black Lives.^[35] He attributes much of his political development to Monica Moorehead,^[36][37][38] Pam Africa, Mark Anthony Neal, and Mumia Abu-Jamal. He has also credited the writings of Thomas Sankara, Lucille Clifton, Amiri Baraka, Henry Dumas, Sonia Sanchez, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Kwame Nkrumah with influencing his political beliefs.^[39]

Lilly currently resides in Durham's historically African-American community, Old Hayti.^[40] He is also a member of the Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.^[41]

References